"Live long and prosper" wasn't his character's catchphrase on Star Trek, but George Takei embodies it. At 74 years old, the original Sulu is still busy: the just-premiered fifth season of Celebrity Apprentice, the funniest Facebook page held by an ex-sci-fi star, the activism, books, theater productions, and more. He took some time to talk about his passions, Jeremy Lin, Howard Stern, Lisa Lampanelli, and the seemingly unhealthy hue of Donald Trump's tan.

ESQUIRE: How are you?

GEORGE TAKEI: Hectic. A little out of breath.

ESQ:The Apprentice kind of taking over your life for the day?

GT: As a matter of fact, we're coming from a Japanese American National Museum meeting. That was my charity.

ESQ: How long have you been on the board?

GT: Since 1986, and it's an institution that's very near and dear to me. I have two passions in my life. One is to raise the awareness of the internment of Japanese-American citizens. My other passion is the theater. And I've been able to wed the two passions.

GT:Allegiance, right. You've done the homework. For the last three years, I've been working with the extremely gifted composer-lyricist Jay Kuo in developing a musical on the story of the internment. We're opening this fall at the Old Globe Theater in San Diego. After that closes in October, we're heading to New York in the biggest and most important stage in American theater: Broadway.

ESQ: Do you have the Broadway run set up already?

GT: We don't know what theater's going to be available. And we want the right-sized theater. We don't want it too big nor too small. You know, sort of like the size of the theater that Book of Mormon is playing in, the Eugene O'Neill — so that you can be sold out.

ESQ: Have you seen Book of Mormon?

GT: It's hilarious. It's the juxtaposition of two polar opposites. You know, abject poverty and deprivation and oppression — next to these innocent, tweaky, squeaky-clean Mormon missionaries. And their mission is very serious, but it's the juxtaposition that makes it so hilarious. Are you in New York?

ESQ: Yes, I am.

GT: Oh, good. You'll have to come. What's your last name, Steve?

ESQ: Ciccarelli.

GT: Ciccarelli? Good Italian name.

ESQ: I like to think so. Since we're talking about New York, have you caught the Jeremy Lin hype yet?

GT: Yes, indeed. I mean, who can miss it? I am not a basketball fan, but when there's an amazing Asian-American, I become very much aware of it. And he is extraordinary.

ESQ: Yeah, he's really great. There's been a lot made about him, his invigorating basketball for Asian-Americans —

GT: Not just for Asian-Americans. I mean, for all Americans, I think. But basketball has always been a passion in the Asian-American community, and particularly for Japanese-Americans. After we came back from the internment camps, they set up a Japanese-American basketball league, and so from the late '40s on, it's been a strong passion. My late cousin was one of the stars of the local Los Angeles team.

ESQ: Before The Apprentice, did you know anyone who's now on the show?

GT: I've known Lisa Lampanelli for quite some time. We did the Shatner roast together. Lisa didn't know Shatner, but she's a popular roaster, so she was invited to do it, and she is fantastic. Actually, despite her public image, she's a very sweet lady, and very sensitive. She cries very easily. Most people don't know that.

ESQ: Yeah, she puts up a hard front.

GT: A vulgar front [laughs].

ESQ: There's something I wanted to ask you about — in the board room when Paul [Teutul, Sr. of American Chopper] calls you "meek."

GT: I was really stunned. I don't know where he got that, but you know, he was one of those people that I'd never heard of. I didn't know who he was and I thought he was kind of a crass, old man, so I didn't pay much attention to him. That word, "meek," came out of the clear blue. I mean, I noticed he struggled to find a word to describe me, and then he finds a word like "meek." Then I figured he's probably illiterate and didn't know whatever word he wanted to use, and that word came to him.

ESQ: And then Donald Trump shut that down.

GT: He was supposed to be the neutral arbiter. I was about to start responding, but Donald took over for me.

ESQ: Speaking of Donald, I couldn't help but notice he looks particularly orange in the first episode.

GT: He does. I mean, throughout. I don't think it's make-up. I think he goes under some kind of sunlamp or something. It looks strange.

ESQ: Good, I'm not alone.

GT: I always thought maybe he has some kind of sunlamp when he shaves in morning or whatever. It looks very artificial and unhealthy. But you don't comment on the Donald's appearance.

ESQ: You kind of operate in a weird part of pop culture. You've sort of been a pied piper for nerds in a way. What do you like so much about that world?

GT: I consider that a gift that's been given to me by my professional career. My father wanted me to be an architect, and so I did study architecture for two years, up at Berkeley, but then I switched to theater arts at UCLA. But if I were George Takei, architect, I would not have access to people like you, or journalists. I'm an activist. That serves as a megaphone to amplify my voice, or whatever issue I'm concerned about, and so it's been a wonderful and seamless dovetailing of my professional career with my other mission in life: to make our democracy a better one.

GT: That's right. They've been shooting for a little over a month now.

ESQ: Do you have any involvement at all?

GT: No. I have no involvement. That's a frequently asked question, and right off the top, I assure people that this aging Sulu will not make an appearance. He's going to remain young. And look like John Cho.

ESQ: There's an interview with John Cho from a year or two ago, and he was just glowing about how big an influence you were on him.

GT: So many young Asian-Americans come up to me when I'm recognized in public, and say, you know, "You made me feel so proud — there you were as part of the leadership team on Star Trek, talking without an accent." And the credit for that really belongs to [creator] Gene Roddenberry. He coined the acronym IDIC: Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations. He said the crew of the Starship Enterprise was a metaphor for earth, and he wanted the crew to reflect that diversity. He deliberately cast the way he did.

GT: In a funny way. I was doing a play in New York, and when you're doing a play, you get your regular assignment to thump the tub, as they say.

ESQ: Make the rounds, kiss the rings.

GT: Exactly. And this particular morning I had an address, a radio station, on Madison Avenue, so I went there and they asked me to wait, and they had this radio show on, and the conversation was really crude. So I said to this other guy sitting there, "Why don't they get some nice music? This conversation they have on is really disgusting." And he said, "That's the show we're waiting to go on." And I said, "Oh, my." But then, shortly thereafter, the assistant comes and says, "We're ready for you," and she ushered me to the studio. And here's this skinny, bespectacled, wild-haired guy, so I said, "Good morning." And he said, "Oh, you have a deep voice. Anyone with a voice that deep has to have a big dong." I said, "I beg your pardon? Are we on the air?" And that was my introduction to Howard Stern.

ESQ: You and Stern are on the same network now because of The Apprentice and America's Got Talent. Have you talked about that?

GT: As a matter of fact, I'm his "official" announcer for his radio show. The Sirius radio show. He wanted me to be a regular. This was in 2005, I think.

ESQ: Yeah, I remember when he made the switch, and you went with him.

GT: I was kind of taken aback by that, too. I didn't expect that invitation to come. I did the show a couple of times because I was peddling something. I thought that would be about the extent of it. But he invited me to be a regular announcer, and I thought, "Well, I'll try for a week." And so he introduced me as the "official announcer," and I had a lot of fun with it, but I'm an actor, not a radio personality, so I said, "Let's compromise — I'll do you every quarter." So that's the way it's been — every three months I pop up on the Howard Stern Show.

ESQ: You have such an interesting social-networking persona. Every day something pops up on Facebook —

GT:[Laughs] I hope you're enjoying it.

ESQ: I love it. Everyone does. You're sort of winning at the Internet.

GT: People send it in to us, so it's kind of easy. In fact, no it isn't — now it's a tidal wave coming in. And it takes a lot of time. I used to do it myself completely, then I recruited Brad to help me, and now we have an intern in New York who helps me as well. I can't do that and all the other things that I have to do. What I do is stockpile a lot of them and dole them out in drips and drabs.

ESQ: Do you realize how popular it is?

GT: I am astounded. We started off with a few hundred, and then a few thousand, and we thought, "Oh, isn't that exciting! 17,000!" Now we have over 1.1 million people. And now we get requests from all these people who want us to help promote their nonprofits or whatever, because they know that I have over a million people that I can immediately access. I don't like to scatter both my resources and my interests too thinly. I want it to be meaningful. So many people like to see their names on everything.